Lessons from Italy

We went to an Italian Restaurant tonight and had the best time. We were immediately greeted by an elderly gentleman who rushed to open the front door and said "I'm so glad you're here" with a long, southern drawl. Was he from Kansas or Missouri? It had to be one of the two.

Within the first 5 minutes of sitting down, we had been welcomed three times by different staff members.

Eventually, the owner visited our table. "Do you need more wine? It's Friday night after all."

Then, as if he knew we wanted more of him, the elderly gentleman made his way to our table and proceeded to tell us about his life as a farmer. We made jokes about hard work and solved all the world's problems in a matter of minutes. Sure enough, he was from Oklahoma.

When it came time to tip our waitress, we couldn't help it - we massively over-tipped. People emotionally tip restaurant servers. Just like they often choose your business for emotional reasons. Take care of your customer well and they'll come back to you. This is marketing.